Category Archives: personal asset loan

No element of men’s style inspires such fascination and devotion as the wristwatch. Up until the late 19th century the wristwatch was considered a piece of jewelry exclusively for women. Men preferred the pocket watch for some very practical reasons. At the time, watches were extremely susceptible to the elements. Moisture, cold, heat, and dust could easily ruin the intricate gears and springs within a watch, causing it to lose its accuracy. Men were more likely to face these elements as they held positions in the military, business, and government that made accurate timekeeping a paramount concern. Care had to be taken to protect their timepieces and keep themselves on schedule. Function superseded fashion, so into the pocket men’s watches went, only to be taken out when needed.

As with most things in men’s style, it would take a war for things to change and for the watch to leave a man’s pocket and be placed on his wrist. In the tumult of battle, a man needed all the hands he could get. So soldiers began improvising wristwatches by strapping their pocket watches on their arm with leather.

In 1880 Kaiser Wilhelm I commissioned watchmaker Girard-Perregaux to produce a wristwatch for his German Naval officers.

Two thousand watches were manufactured with its characteristic protective grille. This is probably the first large series of wristwatches ever made. But the product did not become popular with the general male public and was discontinued.

Soon after this wristwatches showed up with British soldiers fighting in the Burma and Boer Wars in the late 19th century. Called “wristlets,” these leather straps had a cup to hold their pocket watch. By the 1890s, a few companies started manufacturing leather wristlets for soldiers and even made improvements to them, like adding a compass on the strap for navigation. They were often marketed as “Campaign” or “Service” watches. Soon watchmakers took note of the subtle shift in social conventions. One vendor in England advertised that the “wristlet watch” had been used at the legendary Battle of Omdurman in Sudan in 1898 and again during the Boer War, pointing out that “desert-experience is the severest test a watch can have.” The implicit message was a notable one in a period of more precise time: A wristwatch’s reliability, rather than its aesthetics, was what mattered most.

Then in 1906 pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier about the difficulty of checking his pocket watch while flying. He needed to keep his hands on the plane’s controls, but instead kept having to fumble for the pocket watch. Louis Cartier made a wristwatch for his friend affixed by a comfortable leather strap and secured with a small buckle. Santos-Dumont who wore it every time he flew. Alberto was a celebrity throughout Europe, and with his flamboyant personality, his Cartier watch became equally famous.

All these trends cascaded to warfare as World War I soldiers and aviators strapped on wristwatches en masse. The development conjured scenes like the one described by the English war correspondent Philip Gibbs in Belgium:

The watch hands [on the officers’ wrists] pointed to the second which had been given for the assault to begin, and instantly, to the tick, the guns lifted and made a curtain of fire round the Chateau of Hooge, beyond the Menin road, six hundred yards away. “Time!” The company officers blew their whistles, and there was a sudden clatter from trench-spades slung to rifle-barrels, and from men girdled with hand-grenades, as the advancing companies deployed and made their first rush forward.

By the end of the war, watch manufacturers were designing wristwatches “for men with the promise that this watch could make a man more soldier like, more martial, more masculine,” Alexis McCrossen, a history professor at Southern Methodist University said. “And they don’t just have some random soldiers out in Africa, they now have the most modern of all heroes of World War I—the aviator—[wearing wristwatches]. … By the 1920s, you have aviation, you have automobiles. The pocket watch was really intimately associated with the railroad. And so it seems very antiquated, it’s like something your dad wore. A modern man’s going to wear a wristwatch.” By the Great Depression, wristwatch production had eclipsed pocket-watch production; by World War II, the pocket watch was obsolete. The Great War, as one U.S. paper put it in 1919, had “made the world safe for men who wear wrist-watches.”

In recent times there have been those who believed the watch had finally met its demise in the smartphone, and would fade away with other male fashions such as monocles and sock garters. And yet the popularity of the wristwatch persists. To understand why, we need to understand the history of this timepiece, how its past continues to inform its present.

If you or someone you know would like to share or are interested in receiving more of our little known but true stories about luxury collectibles please email us at info@eliassoncapital.com or like us on Facebook. Eliasson Capital provides collateral loans on fine art and collectibles.

Since its invention, the watch has been associated with mankind’s greatest endeavors, and the conquest of the skies is no exception. Like the sailors, who almost two centuries before the invention of flight, would strike out in search of the new world, aviators would need the help of a timepiece to follow their route across open skies without a landmark to guide them.

As aviation entered into its Golden Age between the two World Wars, watchmakers would become essential partners with these new adventurers and the Longines watch company would become aviation’s associated partner.

Being the official timer of the Olympics, Longines was a well-respected time keeper and a name that people knew. In 1927 when Charles Lindbergh flew his famed non-stop, solo Atlantic crossing, it was Longines that timed the event; total time was 33 hours and 30 minutes. When Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field in Long Island, NY and landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris, France he became an international sensation and a true celebrity. Imagine flying all that way across the ocean and keeping your bearings. Over the ocean there is just water, sky and clouds. For ships as well as for planes, determining longitude at sea is the trick, and Lindberg and Longines would rise to the navigational challenge.

Together they would produce a navigation watch that enabled calculating a precise location despite the accuracy shortcomings of the time. But before Lindbergh collaborated with Longines, there was P. V. H. Weems. In 1929, Navy Captain Phillip Van Horn Weems developed the Weems Second-Setting Watch for nautical navigation. The watch also quickly became an aeronautical tool. Given the turbulent cockpits and the thick gloves needed for altitude flying, the Weems was typically oversized. This 48mm watch’s distinguishing characteristic was its rotating center seconds dial. Pilots could listen to the minute beeps over the radio and adjust the dial, which maintained accuracy. The rotating inner dial displayed the correct minutes and graphically showed the margin of error from the original set time.

Lindbergh set out to update and improve the Weems watch based on his experience of flying over the Atlantic. He explained to Longines what he needed from a navigational watch, and the watchmakers went to work, with Charles Lindbergh giving his stamp of approval on the final product. In 1931, the Lindbergh Hour Angle watch was born. With Lindbergh’s global notoriety; it was a huge PR boon for Longines, and they sold the watch to working pilots and the adoring public alike.

The updated watch allowed pilots more easily to determine the Hour Angle, the watch’s namesake, which is a technical description of finding longitude based on the Greenwich Mean Time. Lindbergh’s watch aided navigation with the addition of markings to dial and bezel that made the hour angle calculation easier. A pilot could now confidently determine his position even over miles of open water.

Lindberg’s personal Hour Angle Watch is now part of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Today, vintage Hour Angle watches are relatively rare, although they come up for auction on occasion. In 1987 Longines first produced a commemorative edition of the Hour Angle watch to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Lindbergh’s flight.

If you or someone you know would like to share or are interested in receiving more of our little known but true stories about luxury collectibles please email us at info@eliassoncapital.com or like us on Facebook. Eliasson Capital provides collateral loans on fine art and collectibles.

Collateralized lending is becoming quite a popular alternative to traditional bank loans, but why? What do you do when you need to have working capital at a moment’s notice? As bank loans are increasingly harder to come by, asset based lending is quickly becoming a popular alternative to traditional bank loans for acquiring working capital fast. Why are so many people choosing asset based loans over traditional ones?

Improved liquidity

When used correctly, asset based lending or collateral loans can provide you with financial stability and predictable cash flow. This benefit can help stabilize operations for companies that are growing rapidly, have tight cash flows, or have seasonal revenues. For individuals, unlocking the value in assets such as fine art or luxury vehicles can cover unexpected expenses or opportunities that just can’t wait.

Easier to get than loans and lines of credit

Qualifying for collateral based financing program is easier than qualifying for a bank loan or line of credit. If you have an asset or object of value you can borrow against it. It’s that simple.

All transactions are private, secure and will not affect your credit.

Your valuables are kept in a climate controlled location in a secure facility that utilizes some of the most advanced security technology available. Once the loan is paid off your assets will be returned to you.

Can the loan be obtained quickly?

Once your assets are appraised you can have your money in as little as twenty-four hours.

collateralized lending agencies like Eliasson Capital help businesses and individuals to unlock the value of their assets allowing them to become liquid in as little as 24 hours.

Here’s a fundamental truth of any organization: you need cash to help grow your business. Whether you’re a start-up, a sole proprietorship, or a limited liability corporation, getting a small business loan will be one of your top priorities. Unfortunately for many new and small businesses getting the cash needed to grow can be difficult and costly.

It used to be that the only way to gain access to cash were to go to banks which had their own difficult and long process, time you nor your business has. Luckily in this new economy other options for small business funding have popped up.

Personal Asset Lending allows you to use assets like cars, equipment, and jewelry to get working capital for your business. Loans against art and other valuables can also be used as collateral.

Most small businesses do not have extra assets or equipment just laying around. In cases like that a merchant cash advance can be a beneficial and flexible option to obtain working capital needed to grow.

A merchant cash advance, more commonly referred to as an MCA is simply a purchase of future credit card sales.

A typical bank loan requires fixed monthly payments and doesn’t take into account the fluctuation of seasonal sales. If things are slow a business can struggle to make the payments at detriment to the growth the loan was originally supposed to foster. A MCA is based on percentages of sales allowing leeway during a time when sales are low.

Merchant Cash Advances are also easier to come by than a bank loan. The application process is much shorter and a business can have their money in as little as twenty four hours.

If presented with the option of getting a pension check for life or getting a lump sum, what’s the better deal? This is a decision that should be weighed carefully and because each individual’s financial status is different, there is no cookie cutter way to decide which option is best.

Getting a monthly annuity certainly has a certain allure — you get a steady paycheck for life.

But getting a lump sum can be a more attractive option if you manage the money well. Why? The biggest drawback of an annuity payment is that pensions are rarely indexed for inflation. At an annual 3 percent inflation rate, a monthly check worth $2,000 today would be worth $1,488 in 10 years, and $1,107 in 20 years. That’s a huge reduction in purchasing power.

Also, it’s not the best time to arrange for a pension check because annuity payment calculations are based on prevailing interest rates. In a low-interest rate environment like we have now, getting an annuity would involve locking in a low rate of return for the rest of your life.

Taking the lump sum allows you to invest the money for the short term until interest rates are more favorable because of the flexibility and the power to invest aggressively to make your money last longer.

If you are in debt or have large expenses, getting a lump sum cash payout can save you money on interest payments.

What do you do if you are stuck with an annuity or structured settlement and need cash now? There are services that allow you to borrow against your annuity in whole or in part. This is an especially cost effective option if that money can save you from bankruptcy, foreclosure or any number of financial emergencies that may arise.

Asset-based lending, once considered a last-resort finance option, has become a popular choice for companies that don’t have the credit ratings, track record or patience to pursue more traditional capital sources.

Because asset-based lenders focus on collateral, rather than credit-worthiness, they do deals that more traditional lenders shy away from. Borrowers put up equipment, inventory, accounts-receivable and other liquid assets in exchange for the money.

Asset-based loans can be a much-needed source of capital for companies that are rapidly growing, highly leveraged, in the midst of a turnaround or undercapitalized. Sometimes a company simply needs that infusion of cash to get over a financial hump or to keep growing.

These type of loans are especially well-suited for manufacturers, distributors and service companies with a leveraged balance sheet whose seasonal needs and industry cycles often hamper their cash flow. Asset-based loans can also be used to finance acquisitions.

Many small businesses that seek asset-backed loans are distressed companies, or have spotty or short track records. Asset-based loans can be a much-needed source of capital for companies that are in the midst of a turnaround or expanding faster than they can keep up. Sometimes a company simply needs that infusion of cash to get over a financial hump or prevent growth from stalling out.

Eliasson Capital offers a convenient, and straightforward way to access working capital via personal asset loans.

People who do business with Eliasson Capital realize that they have tremendous value locked in many of their personal assets. We give them an opportunity to unlock this value and take advantage of opportunities, lifestyle enhancements (country club dues, vacation rentals, special occasions), or simply working capital for their small business.

Eliasson Capital makes it possible for high net worth individuals to leverage luxury items like cars, fine art, jewelry and designer watches as collateral for a low interest loan in a fraction of the time it takes to process a formal bank loan, with absolute privacy.

Eliasson Capital keeps collateral in their state of the art, secure storage facility while the loan is being settled, whether it’s a Patek watch, Picasso or Ferrari.